The holiday shopping season is here!

I've decided to start doing more marketing this holiday season. I belong to several craft, art and handmade networking sites and am in a couple of marketing campaigns.

Check out the Holiday Open House on Online Shopping Mall. I found several really neat stores that I'm going to do some shopping in.

And I paid to advertise in the Virtual Craft Show on Cafe Handmade. Again, lots of great sellers and some really neat stuff. On the Virtual Craft Show they have a Best in Show award that goes to the advertiser who gets the most votes that week. The ads start on Sunday and go until the next Sunday. You can vote only once. I was in first place for a little while but am now in 3rd place. If you would like to vote for me please check out my Split Rock Ranch ad on Virtual Craft Show.You don't have to be a member and you don't have to register or anything else, just click to vote! Thank you!


UPDATE: I am now in 1st place! Thank you everyone for all the votes and the nice comments. I will still need votes to continue until Sunday to maintain my lead.


I love how my ad turned out on the Virtual Craft Show:

I think the colors just POP on this ad!

Okay, now I've got to get started dyeing up more fibers and yarns and get more fiber blend batts carded up so my store is stocked up for the holiday season. As always, I love to do custom orders so if there is something you're looking for in the way of yarns or fibers, please let me know and I'll do my best to get it for you!

Finished Custom Order - See the stages of development

I got a custom order from a blog reader recently to turn some of my Cotton Candy custom fiber blend batts into a scarf.

Here is the Cotton Candy in the batt stage:

 And then the yarn after spinning the batts

And finally the ruffled spiral scarf after crocheting the yarn:

Now I'm working on another set of batts, spinning them into yarn to make a crocheted hat for the same person. Somebody is going to be nice and warm this winter!

Over the Top Award!

I was blessed with this award by Jennifer at Oils for Wellness. My mission is to answer the following questions with just one word. I thought this would be a fun opportunity for you all to get to know the Llama lady at Split Rock Ranch a little better. Thanks, Jennifer!

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Your hair? Messy
3. Your mother? Loving
4. Your father? Awesome
5. Your favorite food? Pizza
6. Your dream last night? Weird
7. Your favorite drink? Coke
8. Your dream/goal? Wealth
9. What room are you in? Office/bedroom
10. Your hobby? Horses
11. Your fear? Alone
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Debt-free
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. Something you aren't? Extrovert
15. Muffins? Yummy!
16. Wish list item? Jeep
17. Where did you grow up? Colorado
18. Last thing you did? Blogged
19. What are you wearing? Robe
20. Your tv? Sony
21. Your pets? Many
22. Friends? Blessings
23. Your life? Fulfilled
24. Your mood? Tired
25. Missing someone? Daughter
26. Vehicle? Truck
27. Something you're not wearing? Shoes
28. Your favorite store? Etsy
29. Your favorite color? Purple
30. When was the last time you laughed? Yesterday
31. Last time you cried? Recently
32. Your best friend? Husband
33. One place I go to over and over? Outside
34. One person who emails me regularly? Marsha
35. Favorite place to eat? Chili's

The nominees for this award are:

Karen at Will Oaks Studio
PJ at PJ's Prose
Patti at The Maaaa of Pricilla

I hope everyone has a safe and fun filled day today - Happy Halloween!

Alpenglow

Tonight I looked outside and realized that the entire sky was bathed in Alpenglow. I quickly grabbed my camera and went out on the deck on the north end of the house. Above is Pikes Peak - note the almost full moon in the upper right.

And, of course, I had to get a better shot of the moon bathed in Alpenglow.

And then I needed a closer view of Pikes Peak - note how much snow is already on it!

I came into my office on the west side of the house and then looked out the window and saw that the western skies were glowing orange, so I grabbed the camera again and headed out to the front deck.

And I had to take more photos - I love the big tree - I have so many photos of this tree over the years.

I hope you enjoyed the sunset tonight as much as I did!

Happy National Cat Day!

October 29th is National Cat Day! Check out the National Cat Day website here.
We submitted photos of our kitties Lalo and Precious to Your Daily Cute blog. They have an adorable collection of cat photos on their blog today; check them out here.

And, the day wouldn't be complete without pics of our Cat Crew here at Split Rock Ranch!

Lalo

Precious

The Three Amigos

Boots, Smoky & Ruff

Munchkin, Boots & Precious

We were putting new bedroom furniture in our master bedroom and took the drawers out of the chest of drawers to make it easier to move. We came out of the bedroom and saw that the cat's had turned it into a Cat Condo and had to take a picture!

And, even though it is National Cat Day, I have to share a photo with you to show you what our YorkiePoo, Pippin, likes to do when it is cold and snowy.

Nothing like the wood stove to keep you warm!

The weather outside is frightful.....let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

We are under a Winter Storm Warning here until 6 PM MDT Thursday and they are predicting 8 to 15 inches of snow for our area. Last night we hauled in a big load of firewood and topped off all the water tanks for the animals.

I just got back in from feeding the llamas and horses. I fed extra and put the blanket on our 29 year old POA Mare, Puff. She's now enjoying a hot mash for breakfast and will belly up to the hay bale when she's done, I'm sure.

The wood stove is cranked up and we're nice and toasty, enjoying a freshly brewed pot of spiced coffee. I might even bake a cake or something to have an excuse to turn the oven on and warm things up just a bit more.

Just for grins, here is a link to the cams in Woodland Park, which is 23 miles to the northeast of us:

Ute Pass Cams

There are two cams in town. The one that says Woodland Park is on the northwest end of town and is frequently not the best viewing because of the snow. The Pikes Peak cam is on the southeast side of town and will give you a better idea of what is actually going on. Woodland Park isn't that big - maybe a mile and a half to two miles from one end of town to the other and the highway runs through it like a big horseshoe; when you get to the west end and are leaving town you can look down at where you came from to get into town at the east end.

I'll try to get photos of the snow later. Right now we only have about an inch but it is snowing and blowing pretty hard out. I got too chilled this morning to go back out to take photos.

Tweaking Picasa collages

Today Deb at Storybeader suggested that I thicken the lines between the photos I posted yesterday. So tonight I did just that and I think she made an excellent suggestion - what do you think?

I also changed the background grid coloring on both to more closely match the dominant color in the photos - I didn't realize how much sand was in the photos of Kemui!

 

You can click on the images to view them full screen.

See yesterday's post for the original collages - I saved these new ones in place of the original ones so couldn't post them side by side for viewing.

Playing with Picasa

Last night I played more with the Picasa photo software and created a couple of collages of our llama photos. Above is Tempis Fugit and his offspring at various stages of their life. After doing this collage I looked at the two top middle photos of Tempis (left) and Belle (right) and realized that they look so similar in their stature and their markings. While Tempis is gray/silver/cream and Belle is chocolate brown/black, their white markings are very similar!

Then I did a photo collage of our most recent Grand Champion, Kemui Yama, and put in photos of him as a cria, a weanling and an adult. That collage is shown above.

I'm thinking of doing one of these for each of our studs and each of our females with their photo in the center and their offspring surrounding them. Then I'll post these collages on our ranch website on the animal's individual pages. I have individual photos posted on each page but I think the collage where you can view all of them at once shows the similarities so clearly.

Oh yeah, I can see me spending a lot more time working with Picasa, my new favorite computer toy!

Fresh off the spinning wheel.

Both of these yarns are spun from superwash wool rovings dyed by CJ Kopec Creations for the CJKC Ravelry Spin Along. For a Spin Along everyone gets the same fibers and then puts their own twist on it and posts photos of the resulting yarn, then everyone votes on their favorite yarn that month and the winner gets a gift certificate to CJ's etsy store. FUN! I couldn't choose between the rovings so I got one of each - one cool roving called "Take a Leap" and one warm roving called "Trust Me".

Both yarns are available in my Etsy store. I renamed them. "Take a Leap" became "Poseidon" and "Trust Me" because "Pumpkin Spice". I'm wishing I would have bought two of each roving so I could have enough yarn to make a pair of socks. Maybe I'll mix these two skeins (if they don't sell) and alternate stripes to make a cool/warm pair of socks.

I used Picasa photo software (a Google free software!) and created the awesome collages. I want to play with the Picasa software and llama photos...here's another time gobbler, I can see it now!

UPDATE: Coby is going to dye up another 4 oz roving in each colorway so I can spin another skein of yarn in each color - these will be perfect sock yarns!!!! I only wish I could get the nerve to finish up the heel of my first sock, which has been on the needles for a year now!

WW- Pisa

Hot off the Drum Carder - New Custom Fiber Blend Batts!

I've been busy today! I have had all of these fiber blends in mind for weeks but haven't been able to get them carded up. Today was finally the day. First is my Bountiful Harvest (above) made from wool, tussah silk, mohair top and alpaca - the wool, silk and mohair I dyed in different colors and the alpaca is a natural red/brown. I like how it turned out - it reminds me of harvest time, for sure!


Next is a blend from Superwash Wool top and Cultivated Mulberry Silk - in a base of jet black with blue, teal, burgundy, purple and copper as accents. I named this one Galaxy (above) because it reminds me of pictures I've seen of space and galaxies, stars, planets, etc..

And, last but not least, comes Cotton Candy in blues, pinks and white - just like cotton candy at the County Fair!! This one is also Superwash Wool but also has some coral bamboo carded in.

Because the last two blends are superwash wools, they would be perfect for spinning into sock yarns - you can then machine wash them!

If you like any of these but don't spin, I also offer spinning services. Just leave me a note in the comments section and I'll get back to you.

Today I also sat and watched a movie and spun up the second half of my BFL superwash roving and plyed it. Tomorrow I will get it off the wheel, steamed to set the twist and hopefully get photos taken (unless it is rainy like the forecast says it is going to be, in which case I'll probably wait to take photos.) My indoor photos leave a lot to be desired - all the photos in this post were taken indoors today with natural light from the skylight and some incandescent lighting. I don't like how they turned out but the wind was howling today so if I would have put these on the deck, they'd be in Kansas by now!

Thank you for stopping by!

Happy Caturday!

Lalo is finally a "big boy". He can now jump up on the counter and then the refrigerator to get to the cat food. We have to put the cat food on top of the fridge because if our dogs eat it they get the runs and OMG the mess is horrific! There is a small space on the countertop next to the fridge between the microwave and the bread machine where the cats can fit but the YorkiePoo (who also like to jump on the counters) cannot. Last night Lalo spent his first night out in the Great Room rather than by himself in the bathroom and he did fine. Although there was quite a bit of romping around right after we went to bed, things settled down and when I got up at 1 AM to let Courtney cat in, everyone was sound asleep.

Mums The Word - October Roving of the Month Club colorway

A sneak peak at the Split Rock Ranch October Roving of the Month Club colorway - Mum's The Word. Rich Autumn colors of Burgundy, Golden yellow, Crimson, Yellow Sun and Burnt Orange combine to create these awesome rovings. I planted some Mums in my garden in these colors and just had to reproduce it on fibers!

I sent a sneak peak of the New Zealand Wool yarn dyed in Mum's the Word colorway to one of the club members and she thought it looked just like a Tequila Sunrise - she has never actually seen Autumn leaves before (she lives in Florida). And it certainly does look like a Tequila Sunrise (although it has been eons since I've had one of those!)

New Colorways - Hand Dyed Yarns

Last week I decided to try a couple of new colorways (and one of my favorite established colorways - Sedona) on some New Zealand Wool yarns. These yarns are coarser than most of my other yarns but they soften as you work with them and they are perfect for knitting or crocheting items and then machine felting them (like the Peacock felted bowl I featured not long ago).

First up in the new colorways is Mum's The Word (above). Burgundy, Golden Yellow, Crimson, Yellow Sun and Burnt Orange colors are perfect for Fall knitting or crocheting!


And next is another new colorway - Atlantis (above). Rich and soothing watery colors of Sapphire Blue, Teal, Royal Blue, Emerald and Turquoise make me think of an underwater treasure - Atlantis!


And last but certainly not least is Sedona (above) one of my favorite established colorways. Rich colors of Aztec Gold, Burgundy, Chestnut, Spruce and Gun Metal remind me of the magical and mystical Southwest - perfect for Fall knitting or crocheting! The colors are washed out in the photo - it is much richer and darker than my photos could possibly depict.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Look what we woke up to this morning! Obviously we had very high humidity last night, coming from the south, which is rare, but that always brings the monsoonal moisture from the Gulf Coast. The trees, and everything else, are heavily coated with white frost. Above is the tree growing out of the split rock.

And here's Baby Dee (above) sporting some outrageous frosty fringe on those beautiful ears. And then we have Dazzle (below, left) and her momma Winona (below, right) also modeling some frosty fringe, too.

And below we have Jazz (left) and Maggie (right) with a bit of frosty on their manes and tails.



And Handel, ever the smart boy, has the perfect solution to a cold day - lay down and eat your hay! Ah, wisdom does come with age.

Click on any of the photos to enlarge them - the frost is amazing!!